Thursday, May 21, 2015

The Simple Atheist, the Classical Theist, and the Ontic Theist

The simple atheist -- to give him a name -- cannot countenance anything as God that is not ontologically simple. That is, he buys all the arguments classical theists give for the divine simplicity. It is just that he finds the notion of an ontologically simple being incoherent. He accepts, among others, all of Plantinga's arguments on the latter score. His signature argument runs as follows:

1. If God exists, then God is simple.2. Nothing is or can be simple.Therefore3. God does not exist.

The classical theist makes a modus ponens of the above modus tollens, arguing:

1. If God exists, then God is simple.~3. God exists.Therefore~2. Something is and can be simple.

The ontic theist -- to give him a name -- holds that God is a being among beings. He argues:

2. Nothing is or can be simple.~3. God exists.Therefore~1. It is not the case that if God exists, then God is simple.